Public still understandably nervous over vaccines

• Source: Global Times
• [23:18 November 26 2009]
• Comments

Illustration: Liu Rui

By Zhao Zhihao

With the northern hemisphere entering the winter, influenza A (H1N1) began its second round of spreading all over the world. Due to its prior experience in defending against SARS, the Chinese government has responded quickly to A(H1N1).

China not only developed the vaccine early, but has also begun to promote the vaccine to its citizens.

However, although the government repeatedly emphasizes the safety of the vaccine, some people are still hesitating to take it, and many are taking a waitand- see attitude.

In fact, lots of people all over the world are keeping away from the vaccine.

Such concern by individuals has its own reasons. People are most concerned about whether the new vaccine developed in such a short time can really guarantee safety, and whether it has side effects.

From a psychological point of view, people are often very cautious of drugs injected into their bodies, and even fear them a little. It has been less than one year since the appearance of A(H1N1), and it has been only a few months since the development of vaccines and the clinical trials. The long-term situation of vaccination remains unclear.

In addition, A(H1N1) seems neither as frightening nor fatal as SARS for ordinary people and the death rate is not very high. Therefore, people think the vaccination is not very urgent neither. After weighing the pros and cons, people often choose to wait and see for the sake of their safety.

At present, most countries are promoting the vaccine and the above-mentioned are the common concerns of normal people.

However, if we carefully analyze the reasons, the situations still di. er in di. erent countries.